Together or Not at All
by Devil Enchantment
Summary: .Now the Cullen family were somewhat still adjusting to their move from Alaska to Forks, Washington, even though it was now 2005 and Hermione's still having many things to deal with including her self control. But Isabella Swan's arrival into town, will change everything about the Cullen family... Rewritten version of Shattered Into Pieces - be warned, it won't be the same!
1. Prologue

AN: Completely re-written of Shattered Into Pieces and hopefully, this is much more than what it was before and that it has improved instead of being written quite fast and I do hope you all like it. ~ Devil

_Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die tomorrow – James Dean. _

It was the 10th January 2005, and seven days before Isabella Swan, the Chief of Police's daughter arrived in Forks, Washington with everyone seeming to know about it because gossip somehow spread like wild fire.

Although the Cullen family who had been living in the small town since mid-2003, have only being paying attention to little bits and pieces that Edward and Alice tell them about but they didn't really pay too much attention to what was going on.

Not even Hermione who was the 'newest' Cullen, with her having been changed in May 1998 by Carlisle; in London even though she did listen to what was being said around the high school, sometimes.

But today, she was yet again not attending school, as she had almost ended up 'slipping' and draining one of the students the week before; so she ended up staying home until she actually knew that she would be in control and her thirst wouldn't become too over-bearing.

She spent half of the morning with Esme, and then most of the afternoon out in the woods, alone with her either hunting or climbing some of the trees, something that she never did before when she was a human.

Because she had been scared of heights and now that fear seemed to have been buried deep inside her, although maybe that was because she wanted to do something that made her feel like she was free.

With her breathing deeply, she stayed in the woods for what seemed to be hours on end with Esme or even Carlisle who was at home for a few hours, on a 'break' from the hospital to get clean clothes, a shower and 'rest' checked on her once in a while.

Both of them were concerned as to why Hermione was becoming so withdrawn lately, with her seeming to struggle even more than what she had done in the last few months and Carlisle offered her the choice of leaving the school, of taking the pressure away from her.

But she simply wouldn't back down, and she just told them that she needed time off – that she would just say that she had a bad case of the flu even though it was rare that the school were told that any of them were off for being ill.

She stayed sitting on a tree branch, rather high up with her looking down at the ground and seemed to be contemplating what she was going to do next as she could simply sit in the tree for hours on end because she didn't sleep anymore.

And that's what she missed the most, sleeping and even eating or anything that was human, which made her who she was as a human being; not just as a person.

"Hermione?" Jasper asked, loudly with him having come into the forest to find his sister as soon as he got out of Edward's Volvo once he and the others had arrived home, after briefly talking to Esme about what had been going on, since they left for school that morning.

"Up here," Hermione mumbled quietly, but it was still loud enough for him to hear and the five foot five, long soft curly brown haired with a tint of auburn and light brown in hair, eighteen year old looked in his direction with dark golden coloured eyes.

"_Are you okay, Mia?" _The honey blonde haired golden eyed six foot three vampire who was also quite lean and slender with his skin riddled in scars was concerned about her, greatly because he hadn't seen her struggle so much in a while.

"I'm _fine, _Jasper," She responded, half telling the truth and half not telling the truth as she clearly wasn't fine, because her throat burned and an expressionless mask appeared on her face, which meant that she was trying to hide her emotions, hide what she truly felt inside.

"Please, don't lie to me," He said, softly to her and gestured for her to come down out of the tree which she did after contemplating about it for a few seconds and she soon slipped out of the tree; landing gracefully on her feet.

"It's a daily battle, Jasper – I contemplate on leaving, or hunting constantly or even…" Hermione's voice trailed off, both of them knowing what she meant as she had been offered countless of times by Peter and Char, to join the two of them.

To join their lifestyle, and sometimes it angered Jasper to no end but he knew that his 'brother' and his 'sister' only meant well by it, as they too saw how she struggled to adapt to this world and to have to leave her old one behind.

He sighed, before shaking his head and then out-stretched his hand, waiting for her to grab his hand before starting to walk with her towards the house, talking to her on the way to make her feel a little better.

Although, clearly it would take a while for that to happen as Hermione hated failing, hated the endless struggle and for some reason; she didn't want to use potions to counter-act the never ending struggle with her thirst.

Maybe, it was because she didn't want to venture into that territory, into using magical means to help herself as she had become unsure of herself, unsure of her abilities to do what she was born to do.

As after all, she was a vampire now; with her constantly debating about Edward's views on if they had souls or not as she truly believed that Carlisle and Esme had souls, but she was uncertain about her own soul.

Was it damaged? Did she even have one? Or maybe she does, but it's far too fragile with everything that happened in the last year of her life, of her human one and now she's stuck as an eighteen year old, forever.

Not like she could blame Carlisle for saving her life, far from it in-fact as she was somewhat grateful after the anger, after the depression and the terrifying feelings disappeared once she had somewhat eased into her new life.

Losing herself in her thoughts, she hardly talked to Jasper during their walk back to the house and she just squeezed his hand before letting go, as soon as they entered the house and went onto the second floor to the living room.

Where Rosalie and Emmett were sitting on the sofa, watching a television program while Alice was sat close to her two 'adopted siblings', flicking through a Vogue magazine and Edward was writing out another lullaby for Esme.

Jasper soon joined Alice and gave an anxious look towards Rose who turned her head slightly as Hermione retreated from the living room after picking up the work that they had brought home for her, and most likely went to her bedroom/study.

Their sister was distancing herself again, and it was similar to what she did when May rolled around and the anniversary of the battle of Hogwarts came around with it having been over seven years since everything happened.

Still rather new to the life compared to her siblings or Esme and Carlisle who would never quite replace her parents, the ones who she had made forget everything and sent them off to Australia with their minds altered.

It wasn't easy even now for her to actually live with the fact that she would never see her parents again, they would never know that they had a child – a daughter who 'died' for the cause that she believed in and her friends, all of them would still be dealing with her 'death'.

With her having been so close, to death's door when Carlisle had found her, broken and bleeding from a second attack from a Death Eater who had somehow followed her after the first attack at Hogwarts.

But as she went up the stairs and to her bedroom which was quite large, as well as spacious with a four poster king sized bed, book-shelves, a desk with a chair and a chaise lounge among a few other pieces of furniture, it was her place to relax.

Which she did with her not thinking about the girl in Alice's visions, who would somehow change something in their family's dynamics soon as she knew that the girl was human and it bothered her a lot.

As she wanted her family to be safe, to be away from the threat of the Volturi just like Carlisle having tried his hardest to keep her from Aro; because of her powers, because of what she could do as her magic never truly left her.

Deciding to lay on the bed, she missed the times when she could sleep for hours on end and would now only get 'extremely' comfortable before closing her eyes, and letting herself relax to the point where she thought she could sleep.

No one disturbed her, as her siblings left her alone and Carlisle had left for work, so Esme was busy fluttering around the house or seeing who would go on a hunt with her; and everything seemed normal.

At least for now, that was as things were about to change and Hermione was ready for it, or at least that's what she told herself deep down; as none of them were truly ready for change, especially since Alice's warnings.

About Isabella Marie Swan, about her having something to do with Edward and changing the family's ways, somehow.

AN: Sorry, but I had to leave it at that as I didn't know what to write, truly. Think of this as more of a prologue or just a snippet to what's to come in this newly re-written and thought out idea of Shattered into Pieces. – There will be many changes being made as well, so don't expect it to stay the same!


	2. First Sight

AN: This is more like the start of the story, than the last chapter so here it goes – everything changes, after this and there will be some surprises along the way, so do enjoy and I hope it's not too confusing, by starting with dialogue. Also this chapter was edited by the wonderful Alice1985, so this is for her. ~ Devil.

"_The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed."__ – JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. _

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><p>"Please!"<p>

"No!"

"Pleeaase,"

"No, Emmett." Hermione muttered, sighing as she walked next to her brother towards their usual table in the cafeteria with it being another school day in January, where Emmett and Hermione, the two siblings had started yet another round of sibling bickering.

The two of them holding their own trays filled with a selection of food, and were the last Cullen's to enter the cafeteria, or head over to the table that they usually sat at in the far corner of the large room, by the window.

"Oh, c'mon Hermione. Let's have a rematch, as there's no way you could have passed the third level in the Turbo Tunnel with one try," He grinned at her, as he took his seat beside Rosalie and Edward while Hermione took her seat beside Jasper and Alice.

"Honestly, Emmett." Hermione shook her head with an amused disbelief regarding the latest crazy antics of Emmett. "I didn't cheat. It was quite easy actually, even Jasper won the game after his third try. Maybe, it's just…you." She said, rolling her dark gold – almost black coloured eyes, with her not being able to hide her smile after seeing Emmett's smile dropping into a scandalized and quite comical expression

Even Rosalie, Jasper, Alice, and Edward who watched the two of them bicker which became some sort of unspoken ritual between those two, didn't hide their amusement at Emmett's expression with them soon giving their input into the bickering as earlier that day; the two of them had been bickering about lessons.

"You have a point there, Mione." Jasper joined the banter, and gaining the Emmett's 'evil eye' that promised retribution.

They were all enjoying their free time together, when suddenly a peculiar question had been asked from across the cafeteria, by the new girl, Isabella Swan, grabbed their attention. The table stilled and Hermione's eyes meet that of their siblings, while pretending to be acting human; as they listened closely to the humans.

She then looked discreetly towards the table of the girl who would be another human, fascinated and enthralled with their looks, and who they were, and she spotted an ordinary and yet pretty pale human girl with long wavy dark brown hair and equally brown eyes with her not being able to explain or find a reason why someone would want to start school near the end of January.

Isabella sat across from Jessica Stanley, one of the main gossipers in the school and next to Angela Weber who was actually one of the editors for the school newspaper. She was the only one from this school who actually was smart and in a way, she reminded her of herself.

She was a kind girl having dark brown hair, glasses and dark brown eyes; but she didn't stare in the direction of them for long as she looked at Bella, again.

"They're the Cullen's and the Hales," Angela replied to the question with a somewhat shy tone of voice.

"They all live together, with Dr Cullen and Mrs Cullen," Jessica added in her part, lowering her voice slightly and it made Bella look in their direction again with curiosity. Hermione could see that Bella's interest had been made with her probably wondering who was who or how they were related, just like any other human had been wondering when they first arrived in Forks.

"That's Emmett and Hermione Cullen, they're brother and sister, and she used to be in our year but she's super smart, and managed to skip a year," Angela pointed towards Emmett and Hermione.

She didn't have to look towards the human girl to know that she was probably comparing the similar looks they had, with their hair colour and curls, and their constant bickering and banter helped with their disguise as well.

Then Jessica carried on Angela's explanation by pointing out who Alice was, followed by Jasper, Rosalie and last but not least, Edward who was quite handsome to the female population in the school and by the looks of it, this would also include Bella.

Jessica reassured Bella that only the Hales and of course Hermione and Emmett were actual siblings and related respectively to each other.

Hermione could see that the human girls were transfixed by their appearance. With their dark honey coloured eyes, the abnormally pale skin and their extraordinary beauty made it all too easy for them to be seduced and ensnared.

"They look a little old for foster children,"

"They are now, Jasper and Rosalie are both eighteen but they've been with Dr Cullen, since they were like eight. Mrs Cullen has adopted Emmett and Hermione, she's their aunt or godmother or something. He's eighteen too, and his sister turned seventeen a while ago. Alice and Edward are both seventeen, as well with them being in our year." Jess explained, again with her soon making a comment about Rosalie and Emmett being together, just like Jasper and Alice were.

"I'm not sure, it's even legal…"

"Jess, they aren't actually related," Angela interrupted her. The annoyance was clear in her voice, as she had taken a few bites of her salad.

Rosalie and Hermione rolled their eyes at Jessica's comment, as sometimes humans could be so back warded and prejudiced about those things. Alice grabbed Jasper's hand, which by the looks of it, he wanted to turn around and glare at the humans.

"But they live together," Jess muttered, under her breath.

"Is it that creepy?" Emmett blurted out, quietly making Alice roll her eyes at him and Rosalie told him to be quiet, as they were all trying to listen to the answers that Jessica and Angela were making, towards Bella's questions.

He just huffed a little and side-glanced towards Hermione who had straightened herself up in the chair, taking an unnecessary deep breath, glancing towards the other end of the cafeteria as they heard another question being asked.

"What about Hermione and Edward?" Bella asked quietly, "Are they a couple as well?"

Hermione huffed with annoyance at the question. She never understood what it was that fascinated people to gossip and wanting to find out about the private life of someone. But what she couldn't stand were rumours.

Ever since Rita Skeeter wrote those awful articles filled with lies in her fourth year at Hogwarts, which made her life very difficult, Hermione had a null tolerance towards any rumours.

Jessica's giggle pulled Hermione from her memory.

"No, they aren't. I never saw them being close and both are single. Apparently, no girl in this school was pretty enough for Edward Cullen and no guy was good enough for Hermione. Sometimes, I do wonder if they have a secret relationship going on. Who knows, maybe they've been together at some point?"

Hermione glared down at her tray, before she begun to collect her belongings and slowly stood up, as she had enough of listening to the gossip and if she had stayed seated for much longer; she'd have gone over to the gossiping table and gave them a piece of her mind, regarding to mind their own business and spreading vile lies about people; that they didn't know.

With her brown leather satchel bag slung on her shoulder, she walked with her tray towards the bin and dumped the 'half eaten' contents into it and saw her siblings slowly following suit, and waited for Jasper, before they walked to the exit and to their next class that they had together.

As she absolutely detested the pathetic rumours and had only stuck around long enough to hear the next part of the conversation.

"They don't have a relationship and they've never had one," Angela intervened.

"How would you know that?" Jessica retorted with annoyance.

"I asked her last year, when we had to work on a class project together before she moved into 12th grade. She is quite nice, actually. Anyway, they had never – not once shared a romantic relationship with each other,"

Hermione knew that she liked Angela for a reason and was relieved that she had quelled down a rumour before it had time to spread around and she remembered the day, which they had been assigned to work a project together with her being quite certain, that if she was still human; they would have been great friends.

But she knew it was impossible for her to try be friends, let alone close to her now. The risk of being discovered for what they were, was too great and for her to slip up, even greater. They could never be normal, no matter how much they pretended to be one.

It was a sobering thought.

Jasper then put his arm around Hermione and sent a wave of calmness towards her, as they walked out of the cafeteria and she gave him a thankful smile as they headed towards their next class which was history.

The next three lessons seemed to fly by and as Jasper, with Hermione were leaving their last class of the day, both of them had gotten a strange feeling, one filled with anxiety as Rosalie and Emmett had met up with them both.

Getting told by Emmett that he had seen Edward storming out of Mrs Cope's office, not looking at all in a good mood and it had made the four of them make their way to the parking lot, where the Volvo and Jeep were parked.

Alice soon joined Jasper's side, with the two of them holding hands and they had all noticed the look of impatience crossing Edward's face as they walked towards the two cars with Emmett and Hermione getting into the jeep, after Rose got kissed by Emmett.

With Alice, Jasper and Rose quickly getting into the Volvo as Edward had got in and had reversed backwards, taking off after the jeep which Hermione was driving for a change, and something was obviously wrong.

As the sudden snap of mood change that Edward had after his last lesson which was Biology meant something must have happened to affect him but he didn't explain, as he dropped Rose, Jasper and Alice off near the house.

With him not being able to actually drive all the way there and face Esme, who instantly knew something was wrong when the three of them walked down the drive-way as Hermione had parked the jeep in the garage.

"Where's Edward?" Esme asked, feeling very concerned as to why her 'first' son hadn't come home with his siblings, and that he had dropped them off close to the house so all they had to do was walk down the driveway.

"He took off," Alice answered, frowning.

Because the future was uncertain now and once they all gone into the house properly, they had gathered in the living room, on the second floor with Hermione folding her arms and looked worried as she was thinking of all the possibilities on what could have happened.

To make her brother suddenly take off, with no explanation part from the fact that Jasper said that Edward had mentioned Carlisle still working his shift at the hospital, which seemed a little strange to them.

"Why would he… - Alice?" Hermione said, suddenly stopping herself from finishing her original question and had looked over at the small dark haired dark gold eyed pixie like girl whose eyes had that glassy blank look in them, which meant she was having a vision.

But she was actually having two visions, one of Edward deciding to go to Denali, to see their 'cousins' and the other was of them deciding to keep their appearance at school like it was normal for him to go away.

Which confused her greatly, and once her eyes had gone back into focus, another frown appeared on her face with her eyebrows scrunching up and Jasper had asked her what it was that she had seen as he was confused by the emotions, he felt – the worry, the anxiety and confusion.

"Edward – he's going to Alaska," Alice murmured, softly, with her being highly confused as to why their brother wouldn't tell them anything, and why she had such a strange vision in the first place without knowing what was going on.

So all they could do was wait for Carlisle to come back from his shift at the hospital and hope that he knew what was going on as Esme was hurt, that Edward didn't come and explain himself first before taking off.

It didn't seem real, that Edward wasn't in the house – playing his piano, reading a book or talking to any of them as it was rare one of them just left without any warning although as time passed, Alice understood why.

As she did have a few short and blurry visions, that didn't make sense to her at least not until today as she remembered seeing one of Edward, draining Bella Swan of her blood, killing her and every time she saw something like that.

There was a different outcome but for now, all they did was wait to see what Carlisle said and when he arrived at the house in Edward's Volvo, and not in his own car; it meant that Edward had traded with him, after talking.

"Carlisle?" Hermione asked who stood near the stairs at that point, looking down at the blonde haired, six foot two well-toned medium framed vampire as he came through the door with a frown on his face.

"Why did he leave?" She questioned, blinking as he joined them on the second floor with her moving away from the stairs, and it was clear that they all wanted to know as Alice hadn't shared anything about her thoughts just yet.

"He met someone, who smelled much more…." Carlisle trailed off, as Alice was the one who finally explained what was going on, as she had a vision of Edward draining Bella, in the car home which was one of the reasons why he left.

But obviously, wanted to wait until Carlisle had returned home and Hermione frowned with her glancing towards Jasper, while Emmett seemed to understand in a way as he had met his singer a few years ago.

Although that event had turned disastrous and it was clear on everyone's mind, that Edward had been affected by the girl's blood but a sudden thought crossed Hermione's mind as she ended up, turning around and facing Alice, properly who had seen the expression on her sister's face as she was clearly going to snap at her.

For not telling them of the vision in the first place, for her waiting until Carlisle arrived home, with all of them filled with confusion and anxiety, to actually explain why she had been the last one to get out of the car, and that she had a vision of Edward actually draining the girl, the Chief of Police's daughter with Jasper tuning in to the emotions.

_"Why did you wait until now to tell us?" _Hermione demanded, sharply, her eyes narrowing at Alice who didn't even flinch at the tone.

"I promised Edward, that I wouldn't tell any of you, until Carlisle came home." Alice lied a little, but it was all she could think of in such a short space of time as she wasn't used to getting confronted like she did, at least not now.

Esme who was now joined by Carlisle looked hurt, not because of Mione confronting Alice, but because of what had led to it as she now hoped that Edward would return home soon, and make the right decision; and of course, not come back to kill the girl in question, who was just a harmless, innocent human being.

"Hermione, back off." Jasper warned, stepping forward slightly and pulled Alice backwards, a little with them all feeling the air churn and crackle.

"Fine," She said, keeping her eyes on Jasper at that point and took a deep breath of air, as the air felt like it was crackling, still which made sense as after all; she hadn't truly lost her magic, it was still there, deep inside her, churning and twisting in her body, waiting for it to be released and sometimes, she often had outbursts of magic, uncontrolled when she got highly emotional.

"He will be back, though right?" Emmett asked, to ease the tension between his siblings and looked towards Carlisle, curiously with Rosalie having pulled him off to the long brown curved sofa and were holding each other's hands while Jasper, Alice, Hermione, Carlisle and Esme remained standing at that point with Jasper and Hermione staring at each other, still.

"I don't know," Carlisle said, squeezing Esme's hand softly as he knew that she was the most hurt out of the family, because of Edward's quick decision.

"We'll have to keep our appearance, up at school." Alice murmured, with her siblings agreeing as Hermione's shoulders had gone from tense to relax with her taking another deep breath, before joining Emmett and Rosalie on the sofa.

As everything had changed, in just one day, with Alice being certain that they had to keep their appearance up at the school, and that even though everything was going to change, because of Isabella Swan.

The family was still whole, even if they were missing one.

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><p>AN: Again, thank you to Alice1985 for editing and helping me with this chapter, and to actually inspire me to put it in Hermione'sthe other Cullen's 3rd POV rather than Bella's as after all, this story is about Hermione, the Cullen's, Bella and other events to follow. Thank you to those, who have already reviewed and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. ~ Devil.


	3. Phenomenon

AN: Thanks for all the support so far, and again, dedicated to the wonderful Alice1985 who has helped me a lot with this chapter and with the last one. I will say this, it's not a perfect chapter but it is a long one ~ Devil.

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><p>Six days had passed since Edward had left and everyone from the Cullen family had been anxious ever since, as instinctively, knowing that things were about to change. Hermione's worry had grew from the possibility to meeting her own singer one day, and the mere thought of it terrified.<p>

She knew that, if she had been in Edward's position, she wouldn't have had the self-control, or the strength to withstand such a call and understood that Edward had to go away and to get himself under control.

But what she can't even comprehend is why they were still here, in Forks and not yet packing? With the answer being that Alice had seen Edward returning but everything seemed so sketchy and she refused to tell more about what exactly was happened.

Ever since Edward left, and everyone was pretending that everything was just fine; Hermione had been trying to find out what Alice was hiding from the family, and why this human being even mattered to them.

Hermione wasn't at all stupid; as she hadn't been called the brightest witch of her age for no reason and she instinctively knew that Isabella Swan, would change their lives forever. Seeing that Alice tried to watch the human secretively, believing that Hermione or Rosalie wouldn't notice, only confirmed the suspicions she had about their situation.

Hermione sat next to Rosalie in the cafeteria, and watched the human from the corner of her eye, noticing her crestfallen face as she realized that Edward hadn't yet returned and probably didn't know why, or if he was even 'ill'.

For the life of her, Hermione couldn't quite figure out why this girl would even be important to her brother or to them.

She had observed the girl, who seemed quite unsteady on her own feet, very clumsy which could be a result of multiple of things like multiple sclerosis, damage to the brain, neurological damage or anything, really.

Yet, the longer she watched her, the more she believed that she was just a natural clumsy person and other than that, she wasn't overly intelligent or promising as Angela Webber and not outgoing as Isabella was shy and observing, which didn't sit well with Hermione.

Especially, when she kept looking at the Cullen's table and watching them pretend to eat, or talk to each other.

It unnerved her and she couldn't shake the feeling that soon things would go downhill for them all, as she feared exposure and the threat that could follow them if this came to know.

Even though she knew that she could count on Rosalie and Emmett, who would follow his wife, as well as Jasper, to protect the family; she still couldn't understand why they all, with the exception of Rosalie, just wanted to stay.

Hermione couldn't hide her frustration and ignored the calming wave sent by Jasper, only to glare at him with him frowning at her.

Then suddenly Alice stilled, her eyes gazing into nothingness and that indicated that she was having another vision. She could see how Jasper grabbed her hands gently, and for some reason; it was just another issue that she couldn't accept at face value.

The future has been a tricky thing, with things being able to be truly predicated, because one minor change, could change the outcome for better or for worse. But there was too many variables and possibilities that a prediction couldn't be accurate and mostly wouldn't come true, especially if someone interfered to make it better or to prevent an event from even happening.

Although perhaps it was because of Hermione's background and her experience with a seer in the Wizarding World that made her cautious to accept a prediction, even though she too didn't seem to want to bet on Alice, half the time.

As soon as the vision had started, it had ended and Alice finally had a wispy smile on her face, blinking as her eyes became focused again.

"Edward is coming back, tonight."

Everyone was immediately relieved to hear that he was returning, as they all knew that the one who had been truly affected by his absence was Esme, and then Hermione noticed that Alice had glanced over at Bella, and this time she just couldn't hold back.

"What are you hiding, Alice?" Hermione asked in a stern, sharp tone and the others knew what she was referring to.

"I'm not hiding anything," Alice responded in a soothing tone, but had hesitated at the same time.

"Don't take me for a fool! You've seen something, haven't you? And it's to do with the human, Isabella," Hermione glared in her sister's direction, taking an unnecessary deep breath of air and her eyes narrowed, but before Alice could say anything; she continued with what she was saying.

"She's the reason why we are still here and not leaving Forks. What are you thinking – or what are you even playing at, Alice? Is it some sort of game, to you?" Hermione had clearly had enough as she knew something was wrong, something else was seen by Alice who hadn't bothered to share it with any of them.

"Hermione, that's enough" Jasper growled, too low for any humans to hear.

"No, it's not enough." Hermione hissed, her British accent becoming much more prominent with each word, while trying to rein in her growing rage. "She's lying to us, and you know it,"

"Mione…" Emmett tried to intervene with a comforting tone of voice, looking between his two 'sisters' with his eyebrows scrunched up, a little.

"Don't, Emmett," Hermione snapped, clenching her hands and her shoulders tensed up as she leaned slightly across the table, staring directly at Alice who stared directly at her. "If I'm right with what I'm thinking, then the Volturi will condemn us,"

She ignored the confused glances of the others and carried on staring directly at Alice, glaring at her this time, as of course her words didn't make much sense to them but she knew that they made sense to her sister.

"We all know what they will do to us all if they find out. Do you even think about the consequences? Have you forgotten what Carlisle has told us about Aro's habits? He will destroy us all, if it means to get what he wants. They _will _destroy our family, and it'll be your fault, for not telling us anything, Alice."

Without another word, Hermione grabbed her bag, after getting up and hastily walked away from the table with her dumping the tray of food into the bin and walked to her next class. Pretending to be normal, to fit in, but everything was about to come crashing down.

As she didn't have to be a seer, to predict that nothing was ever going to be the same again.

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><p>Edward had made his decision to go back to Forks after talking to Tanya and even though the conversation wouldn't be known to anyone else, than the two of them – he was very grateful for the talk.<p>

It had encouraged him to face his demons instead of continuing wallowing in Alaska with the Denali's who helped him figure out how to fight against his uncontrollable bloodlust that he had for Bella Swan.

Not only had she awoke in him the monster that lay asleep for decades, but also provoked another side of him that he hadn't been aware of. A curiosity that had been growing, ever since he had fruitlessly tried to read Bella's mind.

Even after his bloodlust filled haze disappeared, after leaving Forks, he couldn't stop wondering why he had failed to read her mind and it had intrigued him.

Edward and his monster have been spellbound by Bella Swan, for a different reason; her mystery of her mind and irresistible blood. She was his undoing.

For days, he thought about what to do with his realization. Originally, his family would have probably stayed for another few years to maintain the appearance, going to college, pretending to be human, before moving to another state.

Edward knew that there were just two outcomes. He either returned to the family, or face his own monster, or he would stay away and knowing his family, they would probably end up moving away with him.

He wouldn't want to do this to them; taking away the chance of a piece of normality especially because of the reason, they moved last time.

He sighed about his predicament, before he passed the welcome to Forks sign and Alice would probably have known that he was on his way home from the moment, he made his decision clear and that's why Edward didn't bother to call them as she would have already informed everyone that he was on his returning back to Forks.

He felt worried and excited at the same time, wondering what his family would think of him for leaving without a word and he had missed his family in the few days that he had been away.

Just as he arrived at the driveway to the house, and had parked the car; the door had opened and Esme came rushing out, shortly followed by Carlisle.

"Edward." Esme called out softly, before rushing towards him and taking Edward into her welcoming arms, kissing his cheek softly.

"_I have missed you, Edward and don't you dare leave like that again,"_ She thought towards Edward, who only nodded in agreement.

"I won't, Esme."

"Welcome back, Edward." Carlisle said, before his thoughts reached Edward's mind.

"_We've all been worried about you." _

Carlisle then moved towards him and pulled him into an embrace. The relief had been clearly seen on their faces. "Come," Carlisle smiled and moved towards the house.

With Esme following the two of them and had a content look on her face, as they went to join the others who soon greeted Edward in their own little way.

"_Nice to have you back, brother" _Emmett thought, not saying anything out-loud and didn't get up to actually greet him with a hug or a pat on the shoulder as he was sat beside Hermione who looked up from reading her book.

"_Edward," _She said in her thoughts, but that seemed to be the only thought that she decided to share with him as she was quite good at blocking her own thoughts, at being able to pick out the ones she wanted him to see.

"I knew you'd come back," Alice teased him, with a happy smile on her face as she was sat down next to Jasper but her thoughts didn't reveal too much and Edward thought that his siblings were acting strange.

Like something was getting hidden by either one or two of them, and that the others knew about it as well but he didn't pay too much attention at that point as he knew that Carlisle wanted to address the matter at hand.

Which was if he was going to return to school or to stay at home, or to even _leave_ Forks with the family which was highly doubtful that they would end up going down that path.

The only one left to acknowledge him was Jasper who just nodded in his direction as clearly, he also knew where it was going as a decision was to be made and they would make it as a family, even though in the end.

It was Edward's choice.

"Edward," Carlisle spoke out-loud, instead of addressing him in his thoughts and instead of them taking the discussion to the dining room/kitchen, they stayed in the living room with Esme and Carlisle having decided to sit down at that point.

"Yes?" He asked, even though he didn't really need to ask at all – he just found it much more polite to ask.

"Have you decided…?" He questioned him, with all of them listening.

A slight hesitation was made with Edward blinking a few times, and he had a frown on his face for a few seconds as his mind was torn but he knew why he had come back in the first place; to face his demons.

To show that he faced them head on, and not to run away from them.

"I'll go back to school," Edward replied, with Carlisle looking towards him with a concerned look on his face and Jasper shared a look with Hermione, both of whom had suggestions on how to keep in control.

Strategically and logically but since they believed that they had much poorer control than the others; they only shared their opinions via their thoughts with Hermione, yet again not saying too much about the situation.

"_It's dangerous, and you know it" _Hermione thought, her eyes flickering a little as she glanced at him and all he did was stare at her, not making a response out-loud because he knew that she was right.

"Try and keep your distance, and don't push yourself too far." Carlisle reassured him even with him showing his concerns on the matter as well.

But of course, it had been Edward's choice all a long and all they could do was support him with his decision, and help him keep in control in school with Emmett having been the only one to encounter two people before, whose blood sung in a way like Bella's did for Edward.

* * *

><p>It had been another quiet day at school with Hermione watching Edward even more than she had done over the last few days since his return and she knew that something was up because Alice had been upset, nearly all day about something.<p>

With her clearly trying to figure out what it was as she knew that her 'brother' and Carlisle had gone hunting the night before, and had been gone for a few hours which made her wonder what the two had talked about.

As she knew that he had been struggling to keep himself under control, to keep the evil monstrous thoughts out of his mind and she knew despite her feelings against failure, against losing control – she'd have lost it by now.

Then her and Jasper had joined Alice, Edward, Rosalie and Emmett at their cars as Rosalie had decided to drive her BMW M3 red convertible instead of being stuck in Edward's car and Emmett had brought the jeep, like usual.

"Hermione," said Emmett who had seen her stare at their brother, Edward because she had noticed that the latter was yet again staring in Bella's direction as she walked across the parking lot, to the rusty old truck of hers and put her bag down in the truck bed.

"What is it, Emmett?" Hermione asked, politely with her now being side-tracked a little and had stopped looking in Edward's direction or even at the human who seemed to still fascinate Edward to her disbelief.

"Do you want to drive the jeep?" Emmett had a hard time thinking of what to ask her or even say, as the two of them had spent the last couple of lessons together; so he had to think quickly on his feet, because he knew she was agitated and he didn't want to annoy her.

She nodded, eagerly as it was somewhat rare for her to drive the jeep – maybe because she thought it looked strange, in her opinion.

While Jasper and Alice were talking with Rosalie, and Emmett was talking to Hermione; Edward was torn between actually staying put where he was and actually going over to Bella, in the somewhat busy parking lot and talk to her again.

He thought about it for a few seconds, and had even shifted slightly – like he was going to walk over to Bella's truck.

"No!" Alice suddenly gasped, the conversation between her, Jasper and Rosalie abruptly ending.

Instantly, Edward scanned her thoughts, and Jasper asked her what was wrong, with Edward believing that he had made a poor choice, and that Alice had seen something rather inexcusable but it had nothing to do with him at all.

As Tyler Crowley had chosen to take the turn into the parking lot quite fast and had to slam on the brakes when a car that was reversing almost collided with the van and it had skidded across the ice that was in the middle of the road.

Although the vision came just half a second after the reality, Edward had seen the van skidding towards Bella and her truck with her having spun around at what seemed to be the last second but he had already made his move by then.

With him using his vampire speed to get across the parking lot without anyone noticing and had managed to not only catch her but to stop the van in the process, with it only hitting the side of the truck.

But what he didn't realize was that his siblings had watched it all happen with Hermione visibly tensing up as she watched Edward move across the parking lot so fast that the human eye couldn't see, and the van being stopped.

Jasper tensed as well with him slipping his hands out of his jacket and Alice seemed to clutch his arm with her anxiously looking back and forth from what was going on in-front of her eyes, to her siblings and to her husband.

Noticing Hermione had moved only slightly and Emmett's hand firmly on her sister's shoulder; she then looked towards Rosalie before hearing that the EMTs were on their way to the incident and knew that this was certainly one of the changes.

"Rose," Alice said, quietly as she saw another vision – only briefly of her blonde haired sister deciding that she would go to the hospital after Edward and inform Carlisle of what had happened, because of the risk that they were now under.

"I'll follow him," Rosalie stated, not saying anything else and clearly wasn't going to be argued with although they had to wait until the EMTs had arrived, before they decided to start leaving the parking lot.

Nothing was clear after that with Jasper and Hermione constantly debating with themselves – changing their minds, as they knew that they had a big situation on their hands because they could have been exposed.

So while Rosalie had gone to the hospital, just like Edward had – the remaining four Cullen's had gone to the house, to await their return and hopefully, Carlisle would also come back as well to go through what they had to do.

"The Volturi _are _going to condemn us, if this gets out," Hermione hissed, having been pacing back and forth since their arrival back at the house, and they had filled Esme in on what had happened at the parking lot.

Even though, it would be spread around the town – no doubtfully or at least through the school's population and then the parents and they could have an even bigger situation on their hands especially if the girl decided to talk.

"Be rational, Hermione." Alice said, telling her sister to calm down even though the feelings were bubbling away inside as all the uncertainties were giving her a headache as she didn't know what was going on.

Because Jasper and Hermione kept changing their mind constantly, and Emmett would no doubtfully pick not only their side but Rosalie's as well and Esme would be for any plan that would keep her family in-tact.

"Rational?" Hermione blurted the word out like it was almost poison in a way and she narrowed her eyes at her but before she could either continue on saying something, or Alice could interrupt her – they heard three cars being parked in the garage.

Despite Carlisle being the first one to enter the house, then Rosalie and finally Edward with everyone suddenly moving from the living room to the dining room, to sit at it even though it was just a 'prop' – only used for 'family meetings' unless they wanted to be informal.

"_Edward, I'm warning you now – Hermione and Jasper are…agreeing with each other," _Alice thought, as she sat down next to Esme while Carlisle sat at the head of the table and Edward beside him.

Rosalie sat directly across from Carlisle, on the other end of the long table and she glared towards Edward while Emmett sat beside her, his face and thoughts both wry as the lines had been clearly drawn.

Jasper on the other hand had hesitated and then went to stand against the wall behind Rosalie with him already being decided, regardless of the outcome of the discussion despite considering to take his place next to Alice.

And Hermione was the final one to actually enter the room, with her face etched with anger and anxiety; having also hesitated as she had debated about sitting at the table or standing, with her then choosing to stand beside Jasper.

Edward took a deep breath.

"_I started this, I should speak first." _He thought.

"I'm sorry," He looked first at Rosalie, then Jasper, then Hermione and then Emmett. "I didn't mean to put any of you at risk,"

"_Too late for that," _Hermione thought, angrily before calling him some rather rude words. _"You are a complete and utter arse, Edward Cullen." _

"It was thoughtless and I take full responsibility for my hasty action," Edward continued, trying not to look in Hermione's direction again even though he knew by Esme's concerned expression that his sister was glaring at him.

Rosalie glared at him, still angry from what had happened at the hospital with her being the first one to actually have confronted him about his hasty actions and was yet again going to confront him about it.

"What do you mean take full responsibility?"

"Are you going to fix it?"

"No, not in the way you mean," He replied, trying hard to keep his voice even and quiet despite the hiss that escaped Rosalie's lips.

Before sharing that he was willing to leave, if it made things better.

"_Especially if I believe that the girl will be safe, if I believe that none of you will touch her," _He amended in his head, knowing full well that all of his family members, especially Hermione who narrowed her eyes were watching him carefully.

"No, Edward" Esme murmured.

He patted her hand gently, not feeling like he could send her a reassuring smile. "It's just a few years,"

"Esme's right, though." Emmett declared. "You can't go anywhere now. As that would certainly be the _opposite _of helpful,"

"We have to know what people are thinking, now more than ever."

"Alice will catch anything major, Emmett." Edward disagreed.

Carlisle shook his head, glancing at each family member in the room especially Hermione who now had a deep scowl on her face. "He's right, Edward. The girl will more likely to talk if you disappear. It's either all of us leave or none of us."

"She won't say anything," Edward insisted as he knew that Rosalie was ready to explode again or even Hermione who he glanced at, but unlike the fiery blonde; her thoughts weren't clear as they had been before.

"You don't _know _her mind," Carlisle reminded him as he watched the look between Edward and Hermione, the latter frowning.

"I know this much. Alice, back me up."

Alice stared at him wearily. "I can't see what will happen if we just ignore this," She glanced towards Jasper and Hermione then at Rosalie.

No, she couldn't see the future – not when Hermione and Jasper as well as Rosalie were so decided against ignoring the incident.

Rosalie's hand smacked down on the table with a loud bang. "We can't allow the human a chance to say anything. Carlisle you _must _see that,"

"Even if we decided to all disappear, it's not safe to leave stories behind us." Hermione interrupted, staring at Carlisle, and didn't pay Edward any attention at that point.

"We've left rumours behind us before," Edward stated.

"Rumours and suspicions, Edward. Not eyewitnesses and evidence," snapped Hermione.

"Evidence," He scoffed.

But Jasper was nodding, his eyes hard and Rosalie leaned back in her chair, agreeing with her sister's words.

"It doesn't have to be a big production, the girl hit her today and maybe the injury turns out to be more serious than it looked," Rosalie shrugged her shoulders, as Hermione let her talk; having some idea on what she was going to explain.

"Every mortal goes to sleep with the chance of never waking up again. And the others would expect us to clean up after ourselves. It would make it Edward's job but this is obviously beyond him, and you know I'm capable of control – I won't leave any evidence behind"

"We all know how proficient an assassin you are, Rosalie," Edward snarled at her.

Rosalie hissed at him, furiously and Emmett had put his hand on her arm, to at least try diffuse some of the tension in the room.

"Edward, please," Carlisle said before turning to look at Rosalie. "I looked the other way in Rochester because I felt that you were owed your justice, and the men you killed at wronged you monstrously but this isn't the same situation – the Swan girl is an innocent."

"It's not personal," Rosalie gritted her teeth. "It's to protect us all,"

Hermione nodded at the words as none of them had anything against the girl, but she was a risk to the family, and she knew that if the girl talked, and the Volturi heard about it then they would come to destroy them all.

There was a brief moment in silence while Carlisle thought through his answer and when he nodded, Rosalie's eyes lit up, even though she should have known better as he never compromised, not in that situation.

"I know that you mean well, Rosalie but I would like our family to be worth protecting, and the occasional accident or lapse in control, is a regrettable part of who we are." Carlisle had included himself in that even though he had never had a lapse in control.

"To murder a blameless child, in cold blood is another thing entirely and I believe the risk that she presents, whether she speaks about her suspicions or not are nothing to the greater risk," He explained, then told them that he believed that if they made exceptions to protect themselves then they risk losing the essence of themselves.

Hermione watched Edward carefully, like she was expecting him to grin because of Carlisle's reasons and when he never; she assumed that he only stopped himself because it wouldn't be right for him to do so – not at the moment in time.

"It's just being responsible," Rosalie scowled.

"It's called being callous and every life is precious," Carlisle corrected, gently.

Rosalie sighed heavily and Emmett patted her shoulder while Hermione and Jasper shared a look, the two of them silently communicating without talking as they had become in-tune with each other like he had done with Rose.

"It'll be fine, Rose." He encouraged in a low tone.

"The question, now is if we should move." Carlisle continued.

"No," Rosalie moaned. "We just got settled and I don't want to repeat my sophomore year again,"

"You could keep your present age, of course," stated Carlisle, looking at her more than he did towards Alice, Edward, Hermione and Jasper.

"And to move again, so much sooner?" She countered.

Carlisle just shrugged.

"I like it here," Rosalie murmured, knowing that they got to be somewhat normal because there was so little sun.

"Well, we don't have to decide now. We can always wait and see if it is necessary,"

Rosalie snorted.

But now Edward wasn't worried about Rosalie, because it was clear to him that she would go with Carlisle's idea; his concern now turned to Jasper and Hermione, both of whom remained unmoved by the reasoning.

He understood why they were as before Jasper had met Alice, he had lived in a warzone – a relentless theatre of war and knew the consequences of flouting the rules, as he had seen the grisly aftermath with his own eyes.

While Hermione had lived a different kind of war, a war to do with magic and she had been fighting since she had been eleven years old, and now she would do anything to protect them – her family, because of the ones she lost and the ones she could _never_ see again.

So he decided to choose to speak to Jasper, first.

"Jasper," Edward began, pausing for a few seconds as he watched him meet his gaze, his face expressionless.

"She won't pay for my mistake, I won't allow it,"

"So she benefits from it then? She should have died today, Edward and I would only set that right,"

Edward then repeated himself, emphasizing each word like it was the last words he'd say. "I won't allow it."

Jasper's eyebrows raised, his still form shifting slightly under the watchful eye of the others and he clearly hadn't expected it or that Edward would be willing to act to stop him.

Then he shook his head once.

"I won't let Alice live in danger, even in slight danger as you don't feel about anyone the way I do, Edward. You haven't lived through what I've lived through even if you've seen my memories or not, you don't understand,"

"I'm not arguing that, Jasper. But I won't allow you to hurt Isabella Swan,"

The both of them stared at each other, not glaring but merely measuring the opposition and Edward felt him sample the mood around him, testing his determination.

"Jazz," Alice said, interrupting them.

Jasper held Edward's gaze a moment longer before turning his head to look at her. "Don't bother telling me that you can protect yourself Alice as I already know that and I've still got to…"

"No, that's not what I'm going to say," She said. "I'm going to ask you a favour,"

Edward saw what was going on in her mind and his mouth fell open with an audible gasp, staring at her in shock and was only vaguely aware that everyone besides Alice and Jasper were now staring at him, warily.

"I know you love me but I would truly appreciate it if you didn't try to kill Bella as Edward's serious about this and I don't want you two fighting, secondly – she's my friend…or at least one day, she's going to be."

It was clear as glass to Edward as he read Alice's mind again, to see Alice smiling brightly with her arm wrapped around the human's waist with her smiling as well and it was a rock solid vision, with the timing being uncertain.

Although, none of the others knew what he had seen; they just knew he was shocked by what-ever he had seen.

"But…Alice," Jasper gasped, with him looking quite surprised by the request that his wife/mate had made.

"I'm going to love her one day, Jasper and I'll be very put out with you, if you don't let her be,"

Which seemed to make him start to change his mind about his decision and that only left one person, to change their mind as even though Alice had explained briefly on the future, on her knowing that one day her and Bella would be friends; it still didn't seem enough for Hermione.

"_I couldn't kill her, without shedding blood but I could always…" _Hermione thought, sharing her thoughts with Edward as she internally debated with herself about her using a memory charm on the girl.

Even though; she'd have no idea how it would turn out as she hadn't used magic since before she was turned, at least not enough to even consider casting such a charm that wasn't easy to do in the first place.

"No," Edward hissed, suddenly turning away from staring at Alice and Jasper, to stare at Hermione with Esme looking startled at the sudden change.

"Edward?" asked Emmett who looked confused as he looked between his brother and sister with even Alice and Jasper now paying attention to the two of them, instead of each other.

"It's a thought, as we don't have to shed any blood…" Hermione said, ignoring the confused expressions on the other members of the family's faces.

"Absolutely not!"

Emmett grumbled, at getting ignored as he always got frustrated when it seemed to be a one sided argument in a way that didn't make sense to him, or the others.

"You haven't used magic in a….for a long time, and it could back-fire…" Edward snarled, glaring at her.

Which was when Carlisle had started piecing everything together because they knew what she had been capable of when she was a witch, before her death and of what she did to her parents, who she still believed were in Australia; with no memory of their daughter at all.

"It's worth a try," Hermione hissed, clearly thinking about her family and was very protective over them as well as loyal; with her seeming to not back down from the idea that crossed her mind as she knew it would be another way, of dealing with the situation.

"It won't work, Mione," Alice murmured, softly – trying to ease the tension in the room as it had suddenly sparked up again and she watched as Jasper moved a little, placing his hand on their sister's arm as Hermione glared at Edward.

The two of them in a battle of their own and it was only when Carlisle who told them enough, did they stop glaring at each other.

Then after Hermione's indecision was made with her choosing to 'forget' about the idea of the memory charm, the future seemed to shimmer as Jasper and Hermione's resolve was fading away and Edward caught a brief glance of something in Alice's mind.

"Ah," Alice sighed, with it having cleared a new future. "See, there's nothing to worry about as Bella's not going to say a word,"

But it was the way that she had said her name that made Hermione look towards her with a clear curiosity sparking and it was like Alice, and Bella were already close confidants.

"Alice," Edward choked. "What does this…?"

"I told you that there was a change coming." Alice locked her jaw and Edward could see that there was more but she was hiding it from him, very suddenly focusing on Jasper and Hermione; even though the latter was still debating, though she hid her own thoughts.

"What, Alice?"

All of them heard Emmett grumble yet again because first it had been Hermione and Edward, now it was Alice and Edward with both conversations having frustrated him because none of them knew what they were on about.

Alice shook her head.

"Is it about Bella?" He demanded.

With it seeming to change again and then Edward was up on his feet, the chair hitting the floor and Carlisle had stood up nearly as quick as he did with his hand soon resting on his shoulder.

"Edward!"

"It's solidifying," Alice whispered. "Every minute, you're even more decided than the last and there're really only two ways left, Edward for her."

"No," Edward was in denial and was shaking his head furiously, with Hermione figuring out what the conversation despite no matter how confusing it was, was leading to.

"Will somebody _please _let the rest of us in on this mystery?" Emmett complained.

"I have to leave," Edward muttered to Alice, ignoring Emmett.

"Edward, we've already been over this!" Emmett declared, loudly. "That's the best way for the girl to start talking and besides if you take off, we won't know if she's going to talk or not so you have to stay and deal with this,"

"I don't see you going anywhere, Edward" Alice told him, with her being uncertain about if he could even leave anymore.

"_Think about it," _She added, silently. _"As I'm not entirely sure on Jasper, Edward and…Hermione – well…if the two of them, if they believe she's a threat after you 'leave'," _

"I don't hear that," He contradicted her, only now half aware of their audience and Jasper was wavering, but he didn't say that he now didn't know what Hermione was thinking, so he only relied on the fact that Jasper wouldn't do anything to hurt Alice.

"_Not right at this moment, but will you risk her life, leave her undefended?" _

"Why are you doing this to me?" He groaned.

"_I love her too, or at least I will even if it's not the same, I want to her around for that." _

"Love her, too?" He mumbled, incredulous.

"_Bingo," _Hermione thought, knowing that she was right with her observations of Edward mainly as she thought about him holding some sort of affection for the girl, despite her remaining silent; watching the exchange between Alice and Edward, just like the others were.

Alice sighed again. _"You are so blind, sometimes and it's more inevitable than the sun rising in the east…see what I see," _

He was somewhat horrified by the thought, so he shook his head again. "No," He said, trying to shut the visions out that Alice was showing him. "I'll leave. I will change the future,"

"You can try," She said, keeping her voice sceptical.

"Oh, _come on!_" Emmett bellowed.

"Pay attention," Rosalie snapped at him; telling him that clearly Alice had seen him falling for the human and then made a small gagging noise, like it disgusted her.

"What?" Emmett was startled, blinking a few times and then he laughed. "Is that what's been going on?" He laughed again. "Tough break, Edward."

"Fall for a human?" Esme repeated in a stunned tone of voice. "For the girl he saved today? Fall in _love _with her?"

"What do you see exactly, Alice?" Jasper demanded.

Alice turned to look at him, telling them that it all depended on if Edward was strong enough or not, as either he would kill the girl himself or that she would be one of them one day.

Hermione hissed as did Rosalie while Esme gasped.

"That's not going to happen – either one!" exclaimed Edward, angrily.

"It all depends," Alice repeated. "He may be strong enough, he might not be and it'll take an amazing amount of control although the only thing he truly isn't strong enough for is, staying away from her."

None of the others seemed to be able to find their voice at that point with the others seeming to stare at him while Alice stared at Jasper, and Edward stared at Alice.

After a long moment, Carlisle sighed. "Well this certainly complicates things,"

"I'll say," Hermione agreed but it was Emmett who almost made Edward groan as he found the situation rather amusing.

"I suppose the plans remain the same though," Carlisle mused, thoughtfully. "We'll stay, and watch. Obviously, no one…will harm the girl."

Edward stiffened as did Hermione and so did Jasper, with the latter stiffening only slightly.

"No," Jasper said, quietly with Mione not saying anything. "I can agree to that as if Alice sees two ways…"

"No!" Edward's voice wasn't a growl or a shout or a cry of despair, it was more the three of them combined.

He had to get out of the room, away from the noise of all the thoughts – Rosalie's self-righteous disgust, Emmett's humour, Carlisle's never ending patience, Hermione's certainty in her own thoughts.

Worse: Alice's confidence and of course, Jasper's confidence in that confidence.

Then worst of all was Esme's joy.

* * *

><p><em>AN: And that is where I'm ending it, sorry if it seems a little messy in the last half but I can't write anymore to do with this chapter as I think it's been the longest one I've done, for sure as on the document – its 24 pages, 6683 words.<em>


	4. Struggles

_Authors Note: To the one who asked if Hermione will have a partner in this fan fiction – yes, she will but it won't be straight away. And this chapter is basically a filler as well as to show you that Hermione struggles as well as pushes herself a lot to get her thirst under control but I apologise on how long it's taken me to get this posted up. ~ Devil _

Edward's POV:

Over three weeks had passed since the van incident, and Edward had avoided Bella at all cost even though they shared biology together; with him trying his hardest to prove Alice wrong as well as the others because they all thought that he wouldn't be able to stay away from the girl.

He stared at the cracks through the plaster in the corner of the cafeteria, imaging patterns that weren't there and it was a way for him to tune all the voices out – the thoughts that babbled like a gush from a river in his head.

Several hundred voices; he ignored just out of boredom and then he looked across the other side of the cafeteria, at Bella when she had entered with Jessica not far behind before looking away, deciding to 'ignore' her presence again.

To pay her no attention.

Only five voices were blocked out by him, out of courtesy rather than distaste – his family, his two brothers and three sisters who were so used to the lack of privacy around him in his presence that they rarely gave it a thought.

Despite Hermione blocking her mind with her practicing the so called Occlumency, yet Edward would occasionally hear a few words here and there, but rarely was he privileged to hear her thoughts as she would either allow Edward to read her mind or she would reveal her thoughts accidently; when-ever she was overwhelmed by her uncontrolled feelings or the thirst for blood.

He did try quite hard to give them as much privacy as he could but sometimes, he didn't get too far with it and it did irritate him a little, as he listened to Rosalie's thoughts – with her thinking about many different things; and not just about herself or her reflection.

Emmett was fuming over a wrestling match that he lost to Jasper the night before and it would probably take until the end of the school day before he demanded a rematch with Edward not feeling as intrusive hearing his thoughts because he never thought one thing that he would say out-loud or put into action.

Jasper and Hermione were suffering, which made him almost sigh.

But he was more concerned about Hermione's struggle as she hadn't hunted for nearly three weeks, as she was pushing herself to her 'limits'; trying to get in control of her thirst while Jasper had been pushing himself for two weeks.

It was like a secret battle between them, to see who would end up losing first even though neither wanted to lose control and end up having to leave Forks.

Was it really necessary to experiment like that? Wouldn't the safer path be to just admit that the two of them despite Hermione being quite young in vampire years; might never be able to control their thirsts like the rest of them could?

Even though it was two weeks since the others going on a hunting trip; it was only a little uncomfortable occasionally as if a human walked too close, if the wind blew the wrong way and Edward still managed to keep in control of himself; around Bella which was unexpected.

While he had to sit next to her in Biology; the others either sat next to each other or sat on their own as the humans seemed to stay away from them as their instincts told them what their conscious minds wouldn't understand which was that they were dangerous.

Yet Hermione was very dangerous, right now with her being more dangerous than Jasper was.

"_Edward," _Jasper said in his thoughts, thinking his brother's name to get his attention as he could feel his sister's blood-lust spiking up again and had looked in his direction as Emmett and Rosalie were talking to each other, Alice was picking at her food on the tray and Hermione was sat stiffly, with her reading a book.

Edward turned his head to look away from the wall that he had suddenly become interested in staring at again and looked at Jasper; knowing that he had felt concerned since they had left for school in the morning about Hermione, about how she was coping and how far she was pushing herself.

"_Is she okay?" _Jasper asked, even though he could read his sister's emotions; he wanted to know if Edward heard anything in Mione's mind and Edward shook his head slowly, giving him an indicator that she wasn't as okay as she tried to make them think.

"_Is there any danger?" _Jasper was now watching Hermione in his peripheral vision and was concerned now as he had asked Alice before they had entered the cafeteria if there had been any danger at all and she hadn't seen anything to suggest there was.

Edward slowly turned his head to the left as if he was looking at the bricks of the wall, sighed and then to the right, back to the cracks in the ceiling and Jasper knew that he was shaking his head.

Jasper relaxed a little but was still tense. _"I'll keep an eye on her emotions, but let me know if it gets too bad" _

He nodded to his brother, being glad that he didn't speak out-loud as Hermione would somehow know that he was talking about her even if Jasper only spoke via his thoughts.

At that moment, a girl who was quite average in height had paused at the end of the 'closet' table to theirs, having stopped to talk to a friend and she tossed her mid-shoulder length sandy blonde hair a little, running her fingers through it.

The heaters blew her scent in their direction and Edward stiffened a little even though he was used to the scent, to what it made him feel with the dry ache in his throat; the hollow yearn in his stomach and the automatic tightening of his muscles; the excess flow of venom in his mouth…

It was all relatively normal, usually easy to ignore but it was harder now as Edward felt the feelings get a little stronger; tripling with him glancing at Jasper to see his reaction to it although he only stiffened up because of it; it was incomparable to Hermione's reaction to the scent.

She let her thoughts get the better of her in that moment; as Edward was able to read her mind, read what she was imaging, because she was picturing it inside her head.

_Hermione pictured herself getting up from her seat next to Jasper, and going to stand beside the girl, leaning down and in like she was going to whisper in her ear and letting her lips touch the arch of her throat…_

Imaging how the hot flow of her pulse beneath the creamy white fine skin would feel under her mouth and how the blood would…

Edward booted her chair, not hard enough for a human to hear but it certainly got the others attention at the sound.

She met his gaze for a minute and then looked down at the table, stopping herself from 'breathing' and had stiffened up, considerably at not only thinking about draining the girl but for Edward to catch her thinking about it.

"Sorry," Hermione muttered, knowing that any longer – she'd have probably got up and done what she had imagined.

"You weren't going to do anything," Alice murmured to her softly, leaning slightly across from Jasper to talk to her properly, her voice too low for humans to hear and Edward flinched a little at the blunt lie because he knew that she was only trying to reassure her.

Jasper rested his hand on his sister's arm but she shrugged it off and knew of course that Alice was lying, as even though the 'seer' hadn't seen anything; they all knew that any longer, Hermione would have gotten up faster than normal.

And it would have been a blood filled night-mare, after that.

"It helps a little if you think of them as people," Alice suggested, her high musical voice too fast and low for any of the humans to hear and she was trying her hardest to reassure her, to sooth her. "Her name is Whitney; she has a baby sister that she adores and…"

"I know who she is," Hermione said, gritting her teeth in agitation with her tone soon ending the short conversation even though she had just interrupted Alice from finishing her sentence about the girl who she_ almost_ killed.

Alice sighed silently and knew that there was no use trying to talk to her after that, as she knew when Mione or Jasper had enough of her encouragement or her reassurance.

She would have to hunt tonight just like Jasper would as Edward thought it was ridiculous for the both of them to take such big risks especially Hermione who had slipped up once or twice – before they had considered moving to Forks and now Alice watched her carefully, just in-case.

"Hermione," said Jasper who felt his sister's emotions spike up once more as she tried to stop thinking of the girl that was not so far away from their table, still standing up, talking to her friends and watched as she suddenly got up.

Picking up her bag, she left her tray at the table and had quickly left the cafeteria with only Isabella taking notice of Mione's sudden exit and Edward sighed as he watched Jasper grab his tray as well Hermione's and kiss Alice on the cheek.

Before he had also left the cafeteria after dumping the trays in the trash, going straight after Hermione.

"_They both try so hard, Edward" _Alice said, glancing towards her brother who had a frown on his face as they were going to make their exit from the cafeteria when the other students started to leave.

He only nodded with him knowing that Rosalie and Emmett were much more flagrant about their relationship; Alice and Jasper knew each other's moods as well as their own as well as it being like the two of them could read minds.

"They'll have to hunt tonight," Edward mused, finally deciding to speak out-loud to his siblings.

"Bella Swan is going to look in our direction, in a few minutes" Alice said softly, knowing that it was somewhat a common occurrence for the girl to look over at them and then proceeded to tell Edward; that he couldn't ignore the girl forever.

Emmett and Rosalie began to talk to each other again with Emmett occasionally picking up his bagel and tearing it apart before looking like he was actually eating it while Edward didn't look in the girl's direction.

Trying his hardest to ignore her and had soon been successful again as Alice let out another sigh, a signal to him that she had stopped staring at them.

Glad that lunch time was almost over; Edward made the decision to go find Jasper and Hermione before he had to go to class with Alice, Rosalie and Emmett joining him – the latter handing over his keys to the jeep to Jasper.

As it was clear that Hermione would have to go hunting, and couldn't stick in school for the next few hours as she didn't have any classes that day with Jasper, Emmett or Rosalie.

"_Let's go, Edward" _Emmett said as his brother stared at Hermione who was making her way towards the parking lot and he frowned, before following Emmett as the two of them actually had a class together.

All four remaining Cullens were anxious to finish the school day and get home with time seeming to slowly drag on until it was time for them to go home but Edward did notice that a certain girl looked their way more than once in the parking lot.

Before getting into her truck and starting the engine up, being one of the first ones to get out of the parking lot and Edward sighed to himself; knowing that it would be constantly hard for him to avoid the girl.

But he didn't want Alice to be right this time, or any of them to be right for that matter as he wanted the visions to be wrong, to change even though he knew he should never bet against Alice or Hermione because either one was usually right.

Returning home after what seemed to be a long day was a relief to Edward who greeted Esme with a kiss on the cheek and a smile, thinking about composing another lullaby on the piano while worrying about Hermione and Jasper.

"_I hate to see the two of them struggle so much." _Esme thought which caught his attention as he looked over to where Esme was staring at as Jasper and Hermione were in the living room playing chess against each other.

"_I wish she wouldn't push herself so far," _Carlisle thought with him not being present in the room with them as he was in his office, debating with himself mentally on if he should just pull Hermione straight out of school and let her try again in a year or two.

Edward frowned at both thoughts that he heard and he decided to leave the composing for another day as he left the room to talk to Carlisle as privately as possible about the situation as he knew it had come close today.

As if there had been another minute or two before Edward realized what Hermione had been thinking in cafeteria; it would have turned into a disaster as once Hermione started, it would be very hard to get her away from the girl who was called Whitney.

She would end up leaving not long after the incident and they would be forced to find a way of hiding it, of making sure they could leave town unsuspected and they would probably never be allowed to return again because of the treaty even if the 'shape-shifters' weren't 'active'.

Everything could have had a worse outcome and he was glad that he managed to get Hermione's thoughts changed in a snap decision of kicking her chair, to get her attention but he knew that she wouldn't go straight back to school.

She'd need time again.

To deal with the _almost _slip-up with them helping her on the way, and to figure out if she would stay in school, to complete her sophomore year or tell Carlisle to pull her out.

Edward hated seeing her and Jasper suffer because of their blood-lust, their control for overcoming the thirst and he would do everything he could, to make sure that the two of them didn't end up beating themselves up.

If they did ever slip up.

_AN: I just wanted to tell you that I've been ill recently and I've had constant pressure on one side of my head for two months that was blamed on severe migraines. But yesterday, I was ill when I was at college and it had become a great concern so I ended up going to the hospital and now I'm going to be going to my doctors to get a CT scan ordered to look at my brain, to see if it's just to do with migraines or something else. Now, with this going on and other things going on – I won't be posting much but I do have a set plan for future chapters and it won't be long until Bella knows their secret and that's when the more 'exciting' things happen. Thank you again for all your support with the first three chapters. ~ Devil_


	5. Important AN

I know this Authors note is the last thing you would want and I'm sure, you'll be frustrated because it's not an update and I haven't updated within a month and I promise you all that I will but I got some bad news last night about a family member passing away.

So I need time to deal with that and sort everything else out like college although I will, as a distraction complete chapter five at some point and have it up as soon as I possibly can then start on all the other chapters.

Hopefully, I'll have at least four or five maybe even seven chapters up before the first week of January; depending on how much I push myself as the whole story has been plotted out and I know roughly where each chapter is going part from some of the last few.

I am so sorry, that this isn't the update you wanted but I thought I'd let you all know. AND to tell you, I haven't forgotten to update, or just abandoned the story – it may also seem like I've abandoned my other two stories, but once I get inspiration and the will power to update the two of them, everything will be raring to go.

Thank you for all the support so far, and I promise you all that I will get one or two more chapters out very soon, especially chapter 5.

~ Devil.


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